Media Center specialist Kim Hayes plans to start an after school library club.

The library club will meet at least once a month after school. Hayes, who began working in Glen Rock in September, is hoping to offer a stress-free club for students to have time to relax from their busy schedules. There will be puzzles, games, coloring, and other activities

“It should be fun. There should be no pressures and it should be a way to decompress,” Hayes said.

Hayes also plans to bring in guest speakers and different authors to talk to the students about books they are reading.  She collaborated with the Glen Rock public teen librarian Morgan Taylor, to talk about popular high school reads.

Hayes says libraries today are going through an “identity crisis.” Many people think that the library is a boring and dull place, but really, it offers a lot more than a quiet place to study.

In the library club, students will get a chance to be productive, but also creative.

Hayes hopes to make the library place where students can be the best version of themselves to help the community. She wants students to be in the spotlight and share all the amazing things that they do.

Previously, Hayes worked as an English teacher at Northern Highlands. She always had a love for literature and wanted to combine that with technology, as a media center specialist.

She hopes that one day, the publicity department can highlight the extraordinary things that students are doing in newspapers. She believes that with the help of the library club, the media center can be completely “future ready.”